FAI Cup second round: FAI chief executive Fran Rooney yesterday moved to address the vexed question of domestic fixture pile-ups for clubs involved in Europe when he announced the association would establish a committee to come up with a solution.
"I am conscious of the burden that participating in Europe is placing on the fixture schedule of our clubs," said Rooney.
"It is an essential part of our plans to develop football that our clubs continue to perform well and advance in European competition and fulfil our domestic fixtures. To assist this objective as far as possible I am establishing a review of how European, Eircom League and Cup fixtures are structured and how best we can further aid our clubs to progress on the international stage."
The move follows the association's refusal to reschedule this evening's Carlsberg FAI Cup game between Shelbourne and Finn Harps and a subsequent meeting between Rooney and Ollie Byrne.
The Dublin club had sought a postponement so the team could fly to Croatia at 8 p.m. tonight for Wednesday's Champions League qualifier against Hadjuk Split. Harps officials offered to play the game at 3 p.m. but refused to have the game put back a week and the FAI appears to have backed the Donegal club.
Pat Fenlon's side will now fly out of Dublin after the game and tomorrow will thus be largely spent catching up on sleep rather than acclimatising. Skipper Owen Heary remained upbeat yesterday, however, refusing to blame Harps.
"It's crazy that we will have had four games in 10 days by next Wednesday but it's not our fault and it's not Harps'.
"People make the comparison with Manchester United, who do this sort of thing, but the difference is they have a huge squad whereas we have a small one - and from that we're missing players through injury."
Finn Harps manager Felix Healy was less than sympathetic to Shelbourne's plight. "They've known for two weeks that the game was to be played at 7.45 and then they go and book a charter flight for eight o'clock. It's just too silly for words.
"With all due respect to Shelbourne, they're not going to win the European Cup. They have a much better chance of winning this competition but the way they have gone about things says a lot about their attitude to the FAI Cup."
Shelbourne are likely to be still without Jim Crawford, Glen Fitzpatrick, Kevin Doherty and Tony McCarthy, while Harps will work off the same squad, and quite possibly start with the same team, as took on Longford in the League Cup on Tuesday night.
Shamrock Rovers, meanwhile, will embark on their latest attempt to end the club's longest run without cup success without Paul Caffrey or Derek Tracey although Mark O'Brien may feature if he passes a late fitness test on a hamstring problem while Jason McGuinness returns from suspension.
"The club has a tremendous tradition in the competition and the best we've done in recent years is the final a couple of seasons back," says manager Liam Buckley.
"Obviously it would be great to go one better than that but I've been around long enough to know how easy it is to get punished if you take your eye off the ball and looking that far down the road.
"Carrick are a decent team, they played Cork in the Munster Senior Cup and lost 2-0 so we're certainly not looking at 8-0 stuff here. We'll give them the respect they deserve and take it from there."
Another club with a great cup tradition are Drumcondra, who return to the competition this weekend after an absence of more than 30 years, to face Quay Celtic in Dundalk.
"Drums" won the last of their five cups back in 1957 when the then Tolka Park club beat Shamrock Rovers 2-0 in front of 30,000. The club, which also won five championship titles, went out of the league in 1972 when, faced with the prospect of mortgaging his home in order to pay the rent on Tolka, Fran Prole instead sold the lease on the ground to Home Farm who briefly incorporated "Drumcondra" into their league team's name.
These days the club, which ceased to exist for several years but was then reformed with the help of Bertie Ahern, is based at Morton Stadium and plays in Division 1A of the Leinster Senior League.
Ironically, the club could again find themselves homeless if Shelbourne's attempt to take over their new home is successful.
They have done well to get this far but, predictably, have some problems ahead of their trip to Dundalk. Ex-skipper Corry Harold was forced to retire due to a back injury only last week while several other regulars are out of the country.
"We had a good win in Letterkenny to get here," says club secretary Pat Brennan, "and despite the lads we're missing we're still hopeful of progressing. It's fabulous to have made it this far, though. To have the club back in the competition has generated a huge buzz around the place."
Longford Town, meanwhile, have Paul Keegan available after his Achilles problem. The former Bohemians striker is, however, unlikely to feature in tomorrow's game with Leeds at Turner's Cross. Brian McGovern's proposed move to Inverness is, it seems, also off but manager Alan Matthews says he will talk to the defender about the situation after the cup game is out of the way.
WEEKEND FIXTURES: Saturday: UEFA Intertoto Cup - Cork City v Nantes (7.0). FAI Cup - Shelbourne v Finn Harps (7.45), Kildare County v Glebe North (7.30). Sunday: FAI Cup - Rockmount v Portmarnock (3.0), Shamrock Rovers v Carrick United 3.0), Quay Celtic v Drumcondra (2.30), Leeds v Longford Town ( 2.30).
